Removal of California inmates from Eloy prison means more ICE detainees

The original agreement in 2018 stated that 1,000 ICE detainees would be housed there, along with 2,500 inmates from the state of California.

With the California Department of Corrections announcing in June it would pull the 2,500 prisoners out of the La Palma Center, more beds will soon be available for ICE detainees.

No families or unaccompanied minors will be placed in the facility, according to a year-old CoreCivic press release.

Brandon Bissell, spokesman for CoreCivic, said the La Palma Center will remain open and there are no planned layoffs at the facility.

In July 2018, the city of Eloy agreed to modify an existing intergovernmental agreement with ICE to add the La Palma facility as a place for the federal detainees, while also permitting the U.S. Marshals Service to utilize capacity at the facility at any time in the future.

California announced plans in June to discontinue utilization of the facility by the end of the state’s fiscal year on Sept. 30, according to Vicky Waters, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Capacity at the facility will be made available to the federal government under their 2018 agreement as additional California inmates exit the facility, according to a CoreCivic press release written in 2018.

CoreCivic’s contract with the federal government began on July 24, 2018, for an indefinite term. Either entity can terminate the agreement with 90 days’ written notice.

In June, the process began as the Pinal County jail in Florence received a new batch of higher-security inmates from California.

On June 17, 10 California state prisoners were transferred to the Pinal County Adult Detention Center from La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy. The next day seven more were booked.

“The California inmates being housed in Pinal County jail are awaiting adjudication for in-prison offenses committed while serving their time in La Palma Correctional Center,” said Waters. “The current custody levels of the inmates range from medium to maximum security.”

In May 2018, California Corrections indicated it might bring its inmates home to California from the La Palma Center. That return of prisoners to California did not happen until now.

When California’s prisons became too overpopulated in the mid-2000s, it started sending inmates out to multiple states. Waters said it has always been the state’s goal to phase out its remaining prison contracts in Arizona and Mississippi.

The La Palma facility in Eloy opened in 2008 and was designed specifically to hold California inmates.